Air conditioning units, in particular air conditioning units designed for commercial and/or industrial applications are usually bundled into casings. Such casings are typically made of panels designed so as to withstand certain constraints, in particular mechanical constraints and thermic constraints.
With respect to the mechanical constraints, the panels are designed so as to provide sufficient stiffness to allow displacement and installation of the air conditioning units, taking into consideration that air conditioning units designed for commercial and/or industrial applications may carry hundreds or even thousands kilograms of equipment (e.g., compressors, pumps, cooling assemblies, etc.).
With respect to the thermic constraints, the panels are designed so as to withstand important thermic variations without bonding and/or impairing mechanical properties of the casing, in particular thermic variations between an inside environment and an outside environment of the air conditioning unit, taking into consideration that such variations may reach up to 40 Celsius degrees in certain extreme environments.
Even though composite panels and/or composite materials have been widely used in many industries, such as the aerospace and the automobile industries, it is not yet the case in the air conditioning industry. In particular, air conditioning units designed for commercial and/or industrial applications are still mainly made of metallic materials. For example, frames of the units and panels that are used for the outside casing and for dividing compartments within the air conditioning units are typically made of metallic materials such as aluminium and/or metallic alloys.
Improvements may therefore be desirable, in particular improvements relating to composite panels, composite material and method of manufacturing composite panels that are, amongst other applications, to be used for the manufacturing of casings of air conditioning units.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches.